"I could be dead if it wasn’t for the seat belt I was wearing"

Windows shatter, car rolls four times, but St. John High School student Morgan Krankenberg and her passenger are SAFE after a serious crash last year.

 
Click here to read more about her story in today’s safety blog.

I Killed Someone Today

By Tom La Combe

It’s early September, the weather is perfect, students are still buzzing around in communities on the back-to-school high, and it’s football season. On this particularly memorable day, I was working what I thought would be a typical trip. I am a locomotive engineer, so “typical” is sort of relative.

This day is not particularly memorable because of the perfect weather and favorable fall conditions. It’s because I was forced to be part of someone’s death, watching it happen, powerless to stop it. You don’t go to work thinking you’re going to kill someone today… (click here for the rest of the story) … http://ksdotblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-killed-someone-today.html

 

Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day blog series begins

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx kicks off the safety series today. Then  people across Kansas will tell their stories in upcoming blogs showing why safety on roadways is important. Thank you for reading the series and sharing the link with others to help put the brakes on fatalities.




By Anthony Foxx

As I did last year on these pages, I must begin my "Put the Brakes on Fatalities" message by thanking the folks at the Kansas DOT, who put this valuable series together every year. The combination of professional guidance and personal narratives you'll read here for the next 20 days is powerful persuasion that all of us can --and should-- work together every day to make our roads safer for all who use them.

Last year, I wrote about the importance of individual decisions--the decision not to drink and drive, the decision to put your phone away when you're behind the wheel, the decision to keep your eye out for bicyclists and pedestrians. And in a world where we know that more than 90 percent of all crashes are due in part to ... (click on link)  http://ksdotblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/working-to-help-you-put-brakes-on.html

Throwback Thursday

In honor of the upcoming Kansas State Fair, here's a look back at our booth from 1953.  Of course, back then we were known as the Kansas Highway Commission-- not KDOT.  If you're heading to the fair, be sure to stop by our booth in the Eisenhower building and say hello.

The Secrets of Southeast Kansas: Marsh Ash bridges at Osawatomie

A number of unique and beautiful old bridges remain open to traffic in the southeastern part of Kansas. Osawatomie proudly claims two Marsh Arch triple span bridges listed the National Historic Register of Historic Places. Built in 1930 and rehabilitated in 2013, the Creamery Bridge spans the Marais des Cygnes River on Eighth Street. The Osawatomie Dam lies downstream. The second triple-span Marsh Arch (not pictured), constructed in 1932, spans Pottawatomie Creek south of Osawatomie.

The Marsh Engineering Company designed 76 Marsh bridges in Kansas between 1917 and 1940. Bridge builder James Barney Marsh patented his ‘rainbow arch’ design for the steel and concrete structures. Although many of Marsh bridges have been demolished, single span Marsh Arches remain on rural roads and along Historic Kansas 66. Just north of U.S. 160 east of Independence, the four-span Dewlen-Spohnhauer Marsh Arch is a landmark that continues to carry traffic.

The 11 Marsh bridges on the Historic Register in Kansas are found in Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey, Linn, Miami and Montgomery counties in southeast Kansas, and also in Geary, Lyon, Sedgwick and Shawnee counties.

You Drink. You Drive. You Lose.

Throwback Thursday

Ever wonder what the center of the United States looked like in 1955?  If so, this photo is for you.  Here is a shot of the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states from September 1955.  This spot is located about three miles northwest of Lebanon, Kansas.